Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “interstellar clouds”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

77 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Revisiting the reactivity between HCO and CH 3 on interstellar grain surfaces

The formation of interstellar complex organic molecules is currently thought to be dominated by the barrierless coupling between radicals on the interstellar icy grain surfaces. Previous standard density functional theory (DFT) results on the reactivity between CH 3 and HCO on amorphous water surfaces showed that the formation of CH 4 + CO by H transfer from HCO to CH 3 assisted by water molecules of the ice was the dominant channel. In contrast, the adopted description of the electronic structure of the biradical (i.e. CH 3 /HCO) system was inadequate [without the broken-symmetry (BS) approach]. In this work, we revisit the original results by means of BS-DFT both in gas phase and with one water molecule simulating the role of the ice. Results indicate that the adoption of BS-DFT is mandatory to describe properly biradical systems. In the presence of the single water molecule, the water-assisted H transfer exhibits a high energy barrier. In contrast, CH 3 CHO formation is found to be barrierless. Yet, direct H transfer from HCO to CH 3 to give CO and CH 4 presents a very low energy barrier, hence being a potential competitive channel to the radical coupling and indicating, moreover, that the physical insights of the original work remain valid.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Correlation between the gas-phase metallicity and ionization parameter in extragalactic H II regions

The variations of the metallicity and ionization parameter in H II regions are usually thought to be the dominant factors that produce the variations we see in the observed emission line spectra. There is an increasing amount of evidence that these two quantities are physically correlated, although the exact form of this correlation is debatable in the literature. Simulated emission line spectra from photoionized clouds provide important clues about the physical conditions of H II regions and are frequently used for deriving metallicities and ionization parameters. Through a systematic investigation on the assumptions and methodology used in applying photoionization models, we find that the derived correlation has a strong dependence on the choice of model parameters. On the one hand, models that give consistent predictions over multiple emission-line ratios yield a positive correlation between the metallicity and ionization parameter for the general population of H II regions or star-forming galaxies. On the other hand, models that are inconsistent with the data locus in high-dimensional line ratio space yield discrepant correlations when different subsets of line ratios are used in the derivation. The correlation between the metallicity and ionization parameter has a secondary dependence on the surface density of the star formation rate (SFR), with the higher SFR regions showing a higher ionization parameter but weaker correlations. The existence of the positive correlation contradicts the analytical wind-driven bubble model for H II regions. We explore assumptions in both dynamical models and photoionization models, and conclude that there is a potential bias associated with the geometry. However, this is still insufficient to explain the correlation. Mechanisms that suppress the dynamical influence of stellar winds in realistic H II regions might be the key to solving this puzzle, though more sophisticated combinations of dynamical models and photoionization models to test are required.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Molecular Mass Growth Processes to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons through Radical–Radical Reactions Exploiting Photoionization Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent critical building blocks in molecular mass growth processes to carbonaceous nanoparticles, referred to as interstellar and circumstellar grains along with soot particles in astrophysical environments and combustion systems, respectively. Recent advancements on elucidating elementary steps to PAHs have utilized reactions of aromatic radicals, resonantly stabilized free radicals, and aliphatic radicals with closed shell hydrocarbons. However, the role of radical–radical reactions (RRRs) leading to PAHs has remained largely unexplored on the molecular level due to preceding experimental challenges in producing sufficiently high number densities of radical reactants for isomer-selective detection of products from bimolecular and termolecular reactions. This Account offers the latest developments in our knowledge on the mechanisms and pathways to PAHs via RRRs probed in a chemical microreactor at temperatures as high as 1600 K. Product preservation in a molecular beam coupled with synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry and photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy enabled isomer-selective detection of PAHs of up to three rings by their photoionization efficiency curves, which were fit with a linear combination of reference curves for identification. Experiments were combined with computational fluid dynamics modeling of the physicochemical processes in the microreactor, as well as high-level electronic structure calculations to reveal the reaction pathways of each system. Six distinct reaction mechanisms were discovered in this work: propargyl addition─benzannulation (PABA), methyl addition─ring expansion (MARE), cyclopentadienyl addition─naphthylization (CPAN), fulvenallenyl addition─cyclization─aromatization (FACA), benzyl addition─aromatization (BAA), and phenyl addition─pentacyclization (PAP). By systematically varying the number of carbon atoms in the radical reactants, molecular mass growth processes involving reactions between radicals with odd numbers of carbon atoms access aromatics carrying one, two, or three six-membered rings, whereas reactions between even- and odd-carbon-numbered radicals produce aromatics combining five- and six-membered rings. Our investigations reveal unconventional cycloadditions on excited state triplet surfaces, additions of radicals to low spin density carbon-centered radicals, spiroaromatic and fulvene-type intermediates, and highly strained bicyclic reaction intermediates, challenging current perceptions of PAH molecular mass growth processes. All of the listed mechanisms, except for FACA, feature endoergic reactions or barriers which lie above the separated reactants and therefore might be central to circumstellar environments of carbon-rich stars and planetary nebulae as their descendants, but they play no role in the gas phase of cold molecular clouds where temperatures as low as 10 K dominate. Altogether, this work provides detailed reaction mechanisms of PAH growth processes, advancing our knowledge of the chemistry of carbonaceous matter in the universe.

Addition reactions↗
DOE OSTI2022

H α emission in local galaxies: star formation, time variability, and the diffuse ionized gas

ABSTRACT The nebular recombination line H α is widely used as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator in the local and high-redshift Universe. We present a detailed H α radiative transfer study of high-resolution isolated Milky-Way and Large Magellanic Cloud simulations that include radiative transfer, non-equilibrium thermochemistry, and dust evolution. We focus on the spatial morphology and temporal variability of the H α emission, and its connection to the underlying gas and star formation properties. The H α and H β radial and vertical surface brightness profiles are in excellent agreement with observations of nearby galaxies. We find that the fraction of H α emission from collisional excitation amounts to fcol ∼ 5–$10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, only weakly dependent on radius and vertical height, and that scattering boosts the H α luminosity by $\sim 40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. The dust correction via the Balmer decrement works well (intrinsic H α emission recoverable within 25 per cent), though the dust attenuation law depends on the amount of attenuation itself both on spatially resolved and integrated scales. Important for the understanding of the H α–SFR connection is the dust and helium absorption of ionizing radiation (Lyman continuum [LyC] photons), which are about $f_{\rm abs}\approx 28{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ and $f_{\rm He}\approx 9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, respectively. Together with an escape fraction of $f_{\rm esc}\approx 6{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$, this reduces the available budget for hydrogen line emission by nearly half ($f_{\rm H}\approx 57{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$). We discuss the impact of the diffuse ionized gas, showing – among other things – that the extraplanar H α emission is powered by LyC photons escaping the disc. Future applications of this framework to cosmological (zoom-in) simulations will assist in the interpretation of spectroscopy of high-redshift galaxies with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Study of the GeV to TeV morphology of the γ Cygni SNR (G 78.2+2.1) with MAGIC and Fermi-LAT

Context: Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) is the most promising mechanism that accelerates Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) in the shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs). It is based on particles scattering caused by turbulence ahead and behind the shock. The turbulence upstream is supposedly generated by the CRs, but this process is not well understood. The dominant mechanism may depend on the evolutionary state of the shock and can be studied via the CRs escaping upstream into the interstellar medium (ISM). Aims: Previous observations of the γ Cygni SNR showed a difference in morphology between GeV and TeV energies. Since this SNR has the right age and is at the evolutionary stage for a significant fraction of CRs to escape, our aim is to understand γ-ray emission in the vicinity of the γ Cygni SNR. Methods: We observed the region of the γ Cygni SNR with the MAGIC Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes between 2015 May and 2017 September recording 87 h of good-quality data. Additionally, we analysed Fermi-LAT data to study the energy dependence of the morphology as well as the energy spectrum in the GeV to TeV range. The energy spectra and morphology were compared against theoretical predictions, which include a detailed derivation of the CR escape process and their γ-ray generation. Results: The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT data allowed us to identify three emission regions that can be associated with the SNR and that dominate at different energies. Our hadronic emission model accounts well for the morphology and energy spectrum of all source components. It constrains the time-dependence of the maximum energy of the CRs at the shock, the time-dependence of the level of turbulence, and the diffusion coefficient immediately outside the SNR shock. Further, while in agreement with the standard picture of DSA, the time-dependence of the maximum energy was found to be steeper than predicted, and the level of turbulence was found to change over the lifetime of the SNR.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗